Ashley Theophane offered American fight in August; admits to lack of motivation on UK scene

ASHLEY Theophane has been offered a fight on American soil in August after admitting he struggled for motivation on the domestic scene.

A surprise defeat to last-minute opponent Darren Hamilton, who stepped in following the withdrawal of original opponent Steve Williams, saw the light-welterweight lose his British title on the undercard of David Price’s victory against Sam Sexton at Aintree on May 19.

And while the 31-year-old maintains that he was the victim of a poor decision, he has no interest in avenging the result – nor, indeed, remaining in UK boxing.

“The domestic scene is not very challenging for me and that is the problem,” said Theophane (31-5).

“Motivation was a problem even when training to fight Lenny Daws. After fighting in America against Demarcus Corley, Danny Garcia and Delvin Rodriguez, (the prospect of) fighting Lenny Daws, Jason Cook and Steve Williams just is not the same.

“I’m going back to the iInternational scene (and) I’ve been offered a fight in America in August. I prefer to fight abroad and I’ll be looking to go overseas more as that is where my best performances and results have come.”

Theophane insists the Hamilton fight ought to provoke more far-reaching questions about the sport, with plenty of work to clean up what he believes are a significant amount of problems.

“I still feel the same about the verdict. I believe I easily won the fight,” he said.

“Darren Hamilton is the most negative fighter I have ever faced. Brian Coleman was more aggressive than he was.

“Boxing has had a problem with bad judging this year. Something needs to be done.”